Artwork Information

Illustrating Vollard's text provided Rouault with another opportunity to study a victim of society, the black slave, as well as the role played by class and race in human relations. It could be argued, however, that an image such as this also references the stereotypes depicted in popular literature of the period. Rouault worked on the 22 etchings for Les Réincarnations du père Ubu for over a decade and received instant acclaim for his illustrations, in spite of the lukewarm response to Vollard's text.